Street or station indicator



July 13 1926.

U. S. VAUGHAN s'msl gw QR s'rA'rtou INDICATOR Filed Feb; 15. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet l WITNESS:

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July 13,1926. I 1,592,236

U. S. VAUGHAN STREET 0R STATION INDICATOR Filed Feb. 15, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet, 2

ERQNUiEW MAIN '57 W RAEINE 55W s T 16 "u/ INVENTOR BY m I v m-roRNEY WITN E55! Patented July 113, i926.

' ULYSSES S. VAUGHAN OF LEADWOOD, MISSOURI.

STREET OR STATION INDICATOR.

Application filed February 15, 1924. Serial No. 693,085.

This invention relates to signalling devices, particularly to street indicators, and has for its object the provision of a novel device designed to be located preferably at the forward end of a street car, railway coach or the like, and provided with means whereby it, may be turned step by step either automatically or by the conductor or motorman in order to display the successive stops in order that passengers may bev apprised of the arrival of the car or train at the stop, street or station'with .accuracy instead of depending 'upon whatever 7 amount of calling out the conductor may feel it incumbent upon him to do, the device consequently operating as a great convenience as will be quite obvious.

din important object is the provision. of a device of this character which includes an I endless belt or apron which carries the simple and inexpensive in manufacture and installation, highly efficient in use, positive in action, durable in service, and a general improvement in the art.

With the above and other objects and advantages in View, the invention consists in the details of construction to be hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figural is'an elevation of the device showing it mounted within an end of a car,

Figure 2 is an enlarged elevation of my device, the full length of the endless belt or apron being displayed,

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail view of one of the brackets which support the lower roller of the endless belt or apron structure,

Figure 5 is an enlarged view of the operating means within control of the motorman or conductor, Figure '6 is a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Figure 5.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the letter A designates one end of a street car, railroad coach or other similar device within which my structure is located. In carrying out my invention it is preferable to provide an elongated upright casing 10 which is suitably secured within the end of the car and which constitutes means for enclosing the mechanism to be hereinafter described, that is at least a portion thereof, and this casing 10 is provided with a sight opening 11 through which the variousstation legends or indicia are adapted to be displayed. Journaled through the upper portion of this casing 10 is a transversely disposed roller 12 which projects beyond one 7 side of the casing for suitable operation and mounted within the lower end of the casing is a pair of upright brackets 13 which are formed with vertical slots 14 within which are disposed trunnions 15 provided upon the 7 ends of a lower roller 16. Trained about the rollers 12 and 16 is an endless belt or apron 17 upon which are painted or otherwise suitably inscribed the numbers or names of the streets or the names of the stations as the case may be, and as indicated in the drawings. These legends are of such size as to be visible through the sight opening 11 in the casing and to be successively displayed therein as the belt or apron is moved by the mechanism to be described. It should be stated that the lower roller 16 is comparatively heavy so as to hold the endless belt or apron taut at all times while at the same time not interfering withits step by step move ment. 7

The operating meansof the device comprisesa preferably grooved pulley 18 wlnch is mounted upon the projecting end of the roller 12 and about which is trained an endless belt 19 which extends over any neces sary guide to a position near either the motorman or the conductor of the car. This belt is also trained about a grooved pulley 20 which is securedto a rotatably mounted disk 21, both of these belts being mounted as for instance upon a stub shaft 22 or other pivotal support as indicated. Associated with this disk is a handle 23 for the purpose of effecting rotation thereof and mounted adjacent the periphery of the disk is a spring pressed pawl like member 24 which engages within successive notches 25 formed in the periphery of the disk, these notches being suitably marked so as to correspond to the legends on the endless belt or apron 17. Owing to the provision of the marked notches or recesses it is apparent that the motorman or conductor can tell by inspec tion or at a glance what street number or name is being displayed.

Assuming that the device has been constructed and assembled as above described, the operation is as follows: Upon reaching the successive stations or street corners, it is intended that the motorman or conductor, as the case may be, grasp the handle 23 and rotate the disk 21 and of course the pulley 20 so as to impart movement to the endless belt 19 so that this movement will in turn be communicated to the upper roller 12 so that rotation of the latter will be effected. As this roller 12 is turned it is apparent that the endless belt or apron 17 will be moved a step so that the next legend or street indications thereon will be exposed through the opening in order that all of the occupants of the car may readily ascertain the exact street or station which they are approachin The sole function of the pawl member 24 is to prevent the disk 21 from being rotated more than a single step at a time as this pawl drops into the successive notches and constitutes a guide for effecting the exact degree of rotation of the disk to display the required legend through the opening 11. lVhen the car has reached the end of the line and is started back on its return trip it is of course apparent that there is nothing at all to interfere with rotating the disk 21 in the reverse direction as the pawl 24- does not have a ratchet action but is simply a movable detent for making sure that the disk will be moved only one step.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawings, it will be apparent that I have thus provided a very simple and consequently inexpensively constructed station indicator which will be highly advantageous for use especially as it will prevent a passenger from unknowingly passing his station or street. The device also renders it unnecessary for the conductor to call out the names of the streets or stations and this is also a distinct advantage especially in view of the fact that such calling out is I so confused and frequently so mumbled that passengers cannot understand what is being said. Owing to the simplicity of the construction and the fewness of the parts it is apparent that there is nothing to get out of order and that the device should consequently have a long life and satisfactorily perform all the functions for which it IS intended.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is of course to be understood that I reserve the right to make such changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts as will not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claim.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

A station indicator comprising an elongated upright casing designed to be mounted within the end of a car and formed with a sight opening, an upper roller journaled within said casing and extending transversely thereof, a lower roller vertically movably mounted and also journaled within the lower portion of the casing, an endless apron trained about both of said rollers and bearing a series of names of streets or stations successively capable of being displayed through said sight openin", a pulley secured upon the projecting end of said first named roller, a pulley journaled within reach of the car attendent, an endless belt trained about both of said pulleys, a disk carried by said second named pulley, provided with indications corresponding to the successive legends on the endless apron, a handle for turning said disk, said disk hav ing its periphery formed with a plurality of notches located opposite the indicia thereon, and a detent movably mounted and engaging within said notches whereby to insure step by step movement of the disk and consequently the apron.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ULYSSES S. VAUGHAN. 

